Guild Wars 2: More stuff to do together

February 26th is getting near and a new update for GW2 is also coming. This one will add a lot of interesting stuff to do with your guildies.

Games I'm Currently Playing, Feb 2013 Edition

It's been awhile since I've done these "games I'm currently playing" thing. It's not really that interesting, I know but I just like to share these as I like to share my thoughts on my blog. There aren't really many new games I've played currently but they're still pretty fun nonetheless. Here we go.

How Guild Wars 2 Ruined Other MMORPGs For Me

Not to sound like a fanboy but I'm serious when I say that playing Guild Wars 2 has ruined plenty of other MMORPGs for me. It's not that "ooh it's so good you won't want to play other games" because I'm currently playing other MMORPGs but it's the various helpful features that you take for granted which you actually miss when playing other titles.

Thoughts On The New Guild Wars 2 Daily Achievement System

Flame and Frost has brought with it a new Daily Achievement system to Guild Wars 2. It's not really a new system but changes the way Daily Achievement works a bit by adding random objectives to be done daily. Of course not all players will like it but some are just overreacting and protesting just because they like to whine.

Free to Play = Pay to Win ?

A common misconception within the gaming community is that all Free to Play games or any game with microtransactions are immediately considered as Pay to Win. While for those who knows better this might sound like idiocy or ignorance but this is sadly the belief of so many people. But is it totally wrong though? is Pay to Win just an excuse made by those who just suck at the game? let's explore that shall we.

Top 5 Games I Enjoyed in 2012

Well, since we're nearing the end of 2012 I might as well make a list of games that I really enjoyed playing this year. It's not the Best of 2012 which would suit all people as this list will only consist of games that I've played. The games that is on the list are those that I really love because it is either really addictive or offers enough innovation to make it unique. Do note that not all of these games will have been released on 2012. There are some titles from last year but as I said, this list is what I've played this year, even if the game is a bit old.

GW2 Lost Shores Event Review

It's not a secret that I love GW2 very much even when most of my friends left the game I still play it every day and are very excited with the events that ArenaNet plans for the game. I love the Halloween event and felt that it is a very good event which is executed nicely. Sadly the same can't be said for the Lost Shores Event.

SW:TOR F2P Restrictions and GW2 Lost Shores Event

SW:TOR went F2P a few days ago and what I've seen is that Bioware just went overboard on the F2P player's restrictions. Yes, other games with freemium models also have a lot of restrictions but this list of restriction and drawbacks for F2P players is a bit too much. 25% increase on prices? really? Limited quickslots for F2P players? wow. It seems that I won't be coming back to SW:TOR any time soon to play my lvl 50 Bounty Hunter since with these restrictions, coming back to play a max lvl character just seems dumb because there is nothing to do that'll be rewarding for me.
http://www.swtor.com/free/features

On another note, GW2's Lost Shore event started yesterday and I have mixed feelings about it. The idea is okay I guess, with Lion's Arch being attacked by the karka which starts a Dynamic Event in the city for players to participate in. The problem would be that ArenaNet isn't really ready for this event. The server lagged so hard and people are mostly confused on what to do. The event is quite interesting for me but it seems to be just a waste of time and money, considering people usually just die because of the lag and repair costs are higher than the event reward.

The Scavenger hunt this time around is also a bit dissapointing. On the Halloween event, they offer new back pieces which is unique to the event and people love it. But now they only give jugs of liquid karma and some tokens for Lionguard equipments which you can already get(except for the rune/sigil).

Overall, the Lost Shore is interesting in theory but sadly lacking in practice. It is fun to see Lion's Arch being attacked by monsters but fighting them while lagging, with no unique reward? I should've just stayed in bed(the event is on 3:00 A.M on my country).

Sorry A-Net, better luck on your next event on December. I'll be looking forward to a hopefully better event.

Guild Wars 2 Halloween Event Guide, Part 3

Well, Dulfy.net made another guide, and this time it's for the Phase 2 of the Halloween event. Very useful stuff :)

Here's the link:
http://dulfy.net/2012/10/26/gw2-shadow-of-the-mad-king-mad-memories-act-2-guide/

And here's a video on the Mad King's Clock Tower Jumping Puzzle. Study the jumps here so that you don't fail on the real thing because it's so friggin hard.

Guild Wars 2 Halloween Event Guide, Part 2

Here's more stuff:

1. Haunted Door farming guide:
Go to Gendarran Fields, Brigantine Waypoint. From there, go north toward the hill. There are usually a group of people who farms the doors, just follow them. Tips on farming: focus on using AoE skills and interact with bags. The Haunted Doors are used to get kills for the Halloween Hunting achievement and getting Trick or Treat bags for the achievement.

2. For those who are looking for the special Halloween Weapon Skins(Greatsaw anyone?) if you've opened some Black Lion Chests and got nothing, you can use items from the BLC to create a Mad King's Chest. Go to the Mystic Forge(middle of Lion's Arch) and put in 1 Candy Corn, 6 Mystery Tonics(from BLC), 1 Boost(from BLC) and 1 Boost in the other slot. Mad King's Chest doesn't require any key to open.

That's it for now, I'll post more later.

Guild Wars 2 Halloween Event Guide, Part 1

Well, Halloween Event is here in Tyria and there's so many things to do. I'll be posting up some links to good guides I've found that'll help out with doing all the Halloween Events(well, almost all).
Here are the guides that I've found so far:

1. Lion's Arch Pumpcin Carving Route

2. Scavenger Hunt Act 1 Guide
http://dulfy.net/2012/10/23/shadow-of-the-mad-king-scavenger-hunt-guide/

3. Random Stuffs in the World(Personalized Trick or Treat Bags)
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/11zzng/earn_5_personalized_trick_or_treat_bags_for_the/

I'll post more when I find them :) enjoy the festivities in Tyria!

GW2 Boss Spawn Tracker

Like to hunt down world bosses in GW2? yeah, me too :) but isn't it annoying that you have to shout "is dragon up?" each time you log in? or missed that world boss by just a few minutes? Now you can track those world bosses with this nifty site over here: http://gw2spawns.herokuapp.com/ and here: http://guildwarstemple.com/dragontimer/

Remember though that this tracker also needs the support of the players to report when a boss is down. Your help would mean a lot to the other players and hey, other player's help would benefit yourself too :)

So, start tracking, start killing those bosses and start reporting.

Yay level 80!...now what?

Well, I've reached level 80 in GW2 since a few weeks now but I'll just post this link here anyway for those of you who are still working your way to level 80 or just got to level 80. What is this link about? it's the level 80 gearing guide that I've found on Reddit, courtesy of Dulfy. The guide contains everything you need to know about gears to get when you get to max level and how to get them, including several advice on gearing. Enjoy!
http://dulfy.net/2012/10/03/gw2-endgame-gearing-guide/

Slow Down and Look Around

I've been enjoying Guild Wars 2 as is these past few weeks and I never look at the forums or other sites but when I decided to look around the forums and some sites what I found is a bit appalling. The community is actually divided because of a diminishing return issue.

ArenaNet added a diminishing return system recently and this causes an uproar in the community, although of course not all of them are affected and thus not all are enraged at this. But those who are affected rages in plenty of sites and the official forums. It is of course understandable why they are raging, because the DR system itself is not actually perfect and has caused legitimate players to be affected instead of botters as the system is actually intended.

Fear Not This Night

Nothing really interesting today so I'll just post a song I really like :)

I never knew that there is a version of this song that has lyrics in it. I only know about the version that they usually use in the trailers:

I instantly fell in love with the song. It sounds great and the lyrics are also good. Here are two more versions of it:

Guild Wars 2 Exotic Armor

A guy on Reddit posted a website that he made that shows all of the exotic armor sets in GW2 and how to get said armor set. It is easy to browse and all information you needed are there on the site, including where and how to get the armor, the items you need and even armor stats. Sadly it does not include cultural armor sets but it is still a great site.

Check it out, here: http://www.gw2armor.com/

Today's OST: Guild Wars Nightfall Theme Song

Guild Wars 2 Combat Mode Mod

This has been out for quite awhile but I just heard about it. It is a mod that changes how the GW2 combat system works to give a more action game feel. It is perfect for those who uses melee characters and still works great with ranged character.

For more info, check out the reddit page here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/10amev/combat_mode_10_released_arenanet_repond/

This mod is legal to use as ArenaNet has approved the use of this mod by the community's request. Enjoy a new way of playing GW2!

Today's OST: Guild Wars Factions Theme Song

Games I Currently Play

As usual, I post about games that I'm currently playing. At the time of this post I'm actually not in the mood for any game. However there are some titles that I've been playing these few days. Let's have a look :)

1. Katawa Shoujo

This one should be obvious since I already post a short impression of it 2 posts ago. But for those who still want me to tell you how great this game is, read on. Katawa Shoujo is a Visual novel, so expect to see A LOT of text and only a few choices a long the way. Despite this however, KS is a very enjoyable experience because of the great story. There have been mixed reviews by different people but the general consensus is that Katawa Shoujo is a damn good game and everyone should try and play/read it. Download, here: http://katawa-shoujo.com/

2. Analogue: A Hate Story

Got this from a bundle a few weeks ago. Played it for a few hours and only touched the surface of the game but I can safely say that this is an interesting game. People say that this is a Visual Novel and while it is indeed have the same basic concept as a VN it is IMO more interactive and has a more unique "feel" to it because of the setting and how the game interface works. The story is quite enganging even though it is shown more in the form of journals and logs with some short conversation with Hyun-ae the AI. For those of you who likes reading or playing VN, Analogue could be an interesting game to pick up. Available on Steam, here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/209370/

3. Guild Wars 2

Because this list is made in no particular order, Guild Wars 2 is here. It is actually my most played game right now although I don't play this as much because my character already reached level 80. However I still play the game regularly and still plans to play this game for many more months. I don't hink I need to tell any of you about Guild Wars 2 because it is really popular so...yeah.
Buy it, here: http://buy.guildwars2.com/

Games I'm going to play
There are sometitles I downloaded but still haven't have time to try. I will play these games eventually :)
- Juniper's Knot: http://junipersknot.dischan.org/
- Cradle Song: http://cradle-song.com/index.php
- Borderlands 2: http://store.steampowered.com/app/49520/

My Impressions on the Guild Wars 2 Beta

The game was great, combat system is really great and the dynamic quest system is pretty interesting, making it a sandbox-ish MMO where you have to explore and find out things to do yourself. For those who like a more structured quest system there's still the story quest but other than that it'll take some time to get used to the fact that the world doesn't revolve around you.

Guild Wars 2 Beta this weekend

Can't wait for the beta this weekend. Sadly I'm a bit busy this weekend with the release event for my new E-Zine: GameQQ MAX and I probably have to go to my shop to check out some stuff. But I'm definitely going to play right when it starts, 2 A.M Western Indonesian Time.

See you in game! :)